1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hairpiece kit comprising a hairpiece attached, without requiring any hair pins or adhesives, to a headband by joining loop material connected to the hairpiece to hook material connected to the headband. The headband, having gripping teeth on its bottom side, is used for tightly securing the hairpiece on the head of the wearer and extends from above one ear to above the other ear.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Different versions of hairpieces have emerged in the past decades. Hairpieces have been applied to supplement the length or thickness of the hair of the wearer. Full-head wigs, wiglets and hair add-ons have been regularly used as hairpieces. The wigs and wiglets that have been available in the market have several disadvantages. Most wigs and wiglets designed for the general market are not custom-made to fit the head or hair style of each wearer. An ill-fitting wig or wiglet tends to slide on the head of the wearer and, therefore, it may be necessary to pin the wig or wiglet, or to attach the wig or wiglet with combs, to the natural hair of the wearer to secure the hairpiece in place. Unfortunately, many wearers who use wigs and wiglets have lost so much of their natural hair that, using pins and/or combs, wigs and wiglets may not be comfortably worn. Moreover, many wigs and wiglets can provide only one appearance. Thus, more than one wig or wiglet is required to achieve different appearances and a wig or wiglet does not blend with the hair of the wearer to achieve different styles.
Another type of hairpiece is formed by attaching artificial hair to a comb-like structure and then anchoring the artificial hair into existing natural hair. A disadvantage of this type of hairpiece is that any forces generated either by the weight of the artificial hair itself or by outside forces applied to the strands of artificial hair will cause a net force on the comb tending to pull the tangs of the comb free from the existing natural hair by rotating the comb about a pivot point formed by the free ends of the comb tangs.
In addition, a large number of patents have been issued which have attempted to solve one or more of the above issues or some other similar problems related to artificial hairpieces. A summary of some of the more relevant of said patents follow.
Haber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,763, registered on Aug. 16, 1994, patents a multi-use hairpiece kit. The hairpiece kit includes a support to extend from behind one ear to behind the other ear of a wearer while conforming to the shape of the head of the wearer. The hairpiece kit includes a hairpiece having flexible base and being used to cover a portion of the head of the wearer. Hair strands are attached to and extend outwardly from one side of the base. Using a sleeve, the hairpiece is removably attached to the support and conforms to the shape of the support.
Russell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,173, issued on Oct. 30, 1990, patents a hairpiece for compensation of hair loss. The hairpiece includes a band of resilient material in shape of an arc to conform to head of a user, and a foundation member to which hair is attached. The foundation member is placed over an area of hair loss or hair removal to conceal the area.
Saenger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,933, issued on May 24, 1988, discusses a method and apparatus for securing hairpieces to a wearer's head. A foundation cap, comprising nylon-like stretch material and having a closed rounded end, is used to securely hold a wig in place on the wearer's head. A circular skirt of similar nylon-like stretch material is located at about the midpoint of the foundation cap. If necessary, filler material is inserted into the cap and/or an elastic band housing a pre-rolled filler is first placed over the head to hold the foundation cap in place.
Kim, U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,783, was issued on Mar. 10, 1981. Kim patents a hairpiece having a comb-shaped attaching member. Artificial hair roots are attached to the comb-shaped attaching member at a plurality of evenly dispersed and disconnected hair root attaching sites formed on one side of the comb-shaped member. The comb-shaped member may be formed with a spring wire core coated with a thermoplastic material which also serves to anchor the artificial hair roots.
It would be advantageous to design a hairpiece kit for covering areas of hair loss, as well as for supplementing the length or thickness of the hair of the wearer, while avoiding movement and displacement of the apparatus and while providing various hair styles in one hairpiece kit of relatively low cost.